City CAO points to plenty of other areas to use it, especially road repair
The warm winter may be saving the City of Niagara Falls roughly $30,000 in snow plow operations, but the warmth presents other road issues.
Chief Administrative Officer Jason Burgess tells us the weather variation, and back and forth of cold to warm, plays havoc with the road surface.
"We've already filled more than 3,000 potholes this year, in the first couple of months of this year. That shows the damage on the streets, so, we might not be moving snow, but unfortunately we're spending our money in other places."
He also says because the city is right beside the mist of the falls, de-icing operations are more expensive than other Niagara region cities.
He adds he's never seen this, where the city can move money around to other departments, at this time of the year, due to the weather.
But, he has to be ready. "A blizzard, where you get a bunch of snow dumped all at once, you still need to have that equipment ready. I can't retire that equipment off, or say 'I'm not going to buy those plows'. You still get those snow events, but it's not staying on the ground."
He adds they keep plow drivers busy with other work, such as parks, repairing sidewalks, or general cleanup, including at homeless encampments.
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